1^st Webinar on Personalized Medicine

Radiation Response Biomarkers for Individualised Cancer Treatments

Half of all patients diagnosed with cancer will undergo radiotherapy as part of their treatment. It is an important and effective tool in the arsenal to treat numerous solid tumours. However, even with precise planning, radiotherapy treatment outcome depends on multiple factors and can, in the process, damage healthy tissue with a degree of severity that is, until now, very difficult to predict. Moreover, radiotherapy induces cancer cell death by damaging their DNA and can also trigger the release of pro- and anti-inflammatory mediators.

Improving the precision of radiotherapy has long been the quest of cancer scientists and clinicians. Recent improvements in its precision have helped to deliver most of the dose to the tumour, sparing the surrounding healthy tissues, hence limiting radiation toxicity and long-term effects, such as therapy-related cancer caused by, amongst others, a combination of radiation-induced somatic mutations, modifications of the microenvironment, and inflammation. Biomarkers are essential for predicting and/or monitoring radiation exposure-associated effects. The aim of this Special Issue is to present an insight into the ongoing state-of-the-art research in the oncology radiation response biomarker field and its applications in the ever-evolving field of personalised medicine.

Biomarkers for cancer fall into two primary categories: diagnostic and predictive. In the case of radiotherapy for cancers, there is a need for both: (1) diagnosis of radiation response and subsequent effect on the cancer and (2) prediction of possible secondary cancers arising in the long term because of radiotherapy, e.g., acute myeloid leukaemia and sarcomas. Radiation biomarkers are thus necessary, not only for understanding the actual effects of treatment on a tumour, but also for monitoring the most effective total dose to the tumour and identifying mechanisms that may allow a tumour to resist radiation therapy, as well as identifying the risks to the patient stemming from the therapy. Ever-evolving technologies allow the detection and validation of new and emerging radiation biomarkers, whether genetic, epigenetic, cell-based, cell-free, or present in extracellular vesicles.

To discover and validate biomarkers of radiation exposure and toxicity to provide support to radiation oncologists. Research carried out should allow individual differences in sensitivity to be considered to better protect those at higher risk by taking in account individual specificities to offer tailored treatments.

Date: 15 June 2022

Time: 2:30 pm CEST | 1:30 pm BST | 8:30 am EDT | 8:30 pm CST Asia

Webinar ID: 871 1746 2760

Webinar Secretariat: jpm.webinar@mdpi.com